Dr. David Basinger is the vice president for academic affairs, chief academic officer, and professor of philosophy and ethics at Roberts Wesleyan College. Most of his research centers on issues in the philosophy of religion, with a current focus on religious diversity. Much of his public speaking focuses on ethical decision-making into today’s world, with an emphasis on bioethical issues. Dr. Basinger also has a strong interest in opening the college setting for students with intellectual disabilities. He was one of the founders of Roberts’ Bridge to Earning, Learning, and Living (BELL) program, a federally-approved program that allows students with intellectual disabilities to engage in the types of academic, social, and vocational activity that will enhance their personal lives and better prepare them to be engaged community members with gainful employment.

Dr. Scott Brenon Caton is a founding faculty member of Northeastern Seminary and a founding member of the Rochester Chapter of the American Chesterton Society. He is one of the few men in the world who has received permission from Rome to be ordained a priest in the Roman Catholic Church although he is married. Dr. Caton is an alumnus of Roberts Wesleyan College and has been a teaching history at Roberts since 1990, and now serves as dean of the school of arts and humanities.

Dr. Cullum is one of the founding faculty members of Northeastern Seminary at Roberts Wesleyan College. Areas of special interest include Reformation theology and history, Wesley and the Methodist tradition, liturgy and liturgical theology, and nineteenth and twentieth-century American religion. Dr. Cullum participates in the North American Academy of Liturgy, the Wesleyan Theological Society, and the American Academy of Religion. His teaching ministry seeks to blend the academic and the practical, with a focus on strengthening the local church along biblical and classical lines.

Dr. Elizabeth Gerhardt brings to Northeastern Seminary an extensive background in the areas of theology, church history, and social ethics. She is a sought after speaker and active participant in interviews and lectures across the United States. Dr. Gerhardt’s research interests focus on the application of the theology of the cross to contemporary global justice issues and church response.

Dr. Nelson J. Grimm has wide-ranging ministry experience including pastoring, chaplaincy, conference superintendence, leadership, and advisory capacities with other pastors, churches, and organizations. He served as a member of the Ministerial Education and Guidance Board of the Genesee Conference of the Free Methodist Church, is a clinical member of the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education, and is a member of the Evangelical Association of Theological Field Educators. Dr. Grimm teaches a variety of courses in the area of applied theology.

Dr. Rebecca S. Letterman grew up as the daughter of a Pentecostal minister and was herself ordained in that tradition in 2005 at Covenant Church of Pittsburgh, where she was serving as a staff member. There, she was tasked with strategizing how to bring traditional Christian liturgy to an urban, predominantly African-American congregation. While in Pittsburgh, Dr. Letterman began her formal Christian spiritual formation studies with Dr. Adrian van Kaam, founder of the field of Formative Spirituality, and his colleague Dr. Susan Muto. (It was during that study that her research interest in the early church mothers and fathers began.) After completing an Advanced Certification Program in Formative Spirituality, Dr. Letterman served at the academy as an adjunct teacher in the program. Her husband’s work situation brought her family to Rochester in 2006, and thus began her relationship with Northeastern Seminary, where she currently teaches Formative Spirituality courses and a course in early church history, theology and practice. She is a founding member and volunteer clergy person at Community of the Savior, a Free Methodist congregation, where she regularly preaches, celebrates Eucharist, plans and leads liturgies, cantors, serves in healing prayer ministry, and serves on the Spiritual Formation and Discipleship Committee. Dr. Letterman’s ministry vocation focuses on bridging formative faith traditions – whether across time or across cultures – in order to foster respect for diversity, while at the same time nurturing unity among Judeo-Christian faith communities that are seeking to live in vital relationship with God, one another, and the wider world.

Dr. Esau McCaulley has served across many professional and cultural contexts throughout his ministerial career and theological study. These experiences include rector at All Souls Episcopal/Anglican Church in Okinawa, Japan, assistant to the rector, St. John’s Episcopal Church, Portsmouth, VA, and spiritual life director at Norfolk Christian High School, Norfolk, VA. Rev. McCaulley’s recent areas of research have focused on Paul’s letters in Galatians and Romans, and Second Temple Judaism and Greco-Roman background to the New Testament. Rev. McCaulley has dedicated his work in Christian higher education to instructing students on the proper interpretation and application of biblical texts. This will in turn yield exemplary lives in service to God, the church, and the varied communities in which students are placed.

Dr. J. Richard Middleton is widely published in religious periodicals and journals and is the author of four books. Special areas of interest include Old Testament theology, the Christian worldview, the books of Genesis and Samuel, the doctrine of Creation, and Christianity and postmodern culture. Dr. Middleton served as president of the Canadian Evangelical Theological Association and additionally serves as an adjunct professor of Old Testament at the Caribbean Graduate School of Theology in Kingston, Jamaica.

Josef Sykora has served in senior and assistant pastoral roles, in leading spiritual retreats, and as an educator for missionaries. He serves as the director of the doctor of ministry program at Northeastern Seminary. On the master’s level he also teaches the core classes (Protestant Era) and a number of classes in the biblical studies area. Dr. Sykora's research interests include violence in the Scripture, theological interpretation, and the books of Genesis and Samuel.

Speaking Topics:

Books of the Bible (Genesis, Deuteronomy, Samuel)

Violence in Scripture

Contemplative Prayer, Silence, and Solitude

Theological Interpretation

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NORTHEASTERN SEMINARY where the unchanging essentials of biblical and historic Christianity are combined with a
responsive attitude toward contemporary culture—where Christ-centered people of different ages, ethnicities, and
denominations gain the theological understanding, spiritual formation, and proven skills necessary for effective
ministry to the church and the world.